Down but not out: Holland man details swim attempt, fundraising success

HOLLAND — It’s been less than a week since Holland’s Bryan Huffman dipped his feet in the cool waters of Lake Michigan, ready to set out on an adventure that few have attempted and even fewer have achieved — swimming 50 miles across Lake Michigan without the assistance of a wetsuit.

While Huffman was not successful in crossing the lake, a second part of Huffman's mission will have a lasting impact on the Holland community. He aimed to raise funds for the Holland Aquatic Center's swim lesson program, and far exceeded his initial goal.

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During a Wednesday afternoon press conference at HAC, Huffman shared his experience leading up to the swim, which was eventually cut short due to mechanical issues with the boat, sharing the attention to detail necessary to make the the swim possible.

He took time to thank his team, including his wife Stacy, the medical staff on board, those captaining the boat and his swim coach. He also thanked the pacers who assisted him while he swam, those paddling a kayak in the water to help guide him and those who managed his social media — Bryan’s BIG Lake Swim on Facebook — throughout.

“We had a great team on the boat and I couldn’t have asked for a better team out there," Huffman said.

He also thanked the Holland community, team members at the HAC who helped throughout and Holland Hospital, which contributed medical equipment for the swim.

The mood in the room was positive, Huffman smiling as he told of his adventure. He shared about how the night before the swim, he swallowed a small, pill size sensor meant to track his internal temperature throughout the swim.

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He took another one in the morning, ensuring they’d remain in his system throughout the process. But just an hour into the swim, the watch used to monitor his temperature broke and stopped tracking.

Huffman also talked about the water temperature, saying it was about 61 degrees when he stepped in the water and dropped to 58 degrees before jumping up to around 70 degrees because of water currents.

There were stories about the nutrition side of the swim and how his wife took the lead on that, with Huffman treading water next to the boat every 30 minutes to ensure he kept his strength up.

The rules of the swim were once Huffman touches the boat, it's over. Treading water in the middle of Lake Michigan, Stacy asked Bryan several times if he was sure he wanted to end it. She was aware of the magnitude of the swim, of all the work Bryan and his team had put in to make this possible.

As Bryan mulled the decision, he thought about his upcoming 20 Bridges Swim in New York City in late September. He thought about his sore muscles and about those who had worked so hard, braving the changing weather conditions as they slowly floated across the lake.

Wednesday afternoon, Bryan appeared at peace with the decision. He will make another attempt at Lake Michigan and still plans to swim the other four Great Lakes. Asked how he felt only four days after from his attempt, Huffman admitted he was still sore and acknowledged that there was work left to be done to improve his swim stroke for future swims.

As his coach Mike Daley said, Huffman experienced pain in his shoulders faster than they would have liked, an indicator that tweaks could be made to his swim stroke in the future.

“It’s important for you all to know that Bryan understates everything,” Daley said. “If he says he’s in pain, it’s major pain. If he says he’s tired, he’s really tired and if he says his shoulders are sore, they are really, really sore. We now have an understanding of why that is.”

As for the other part of the mission, it’s safe to say that Huffman's trip was a huge success.

Leading up to the swim, Huffman set a goal of raising $12,000 for HAC, stressing the importance of swim lessons, especially with drowning being the number one cause of injury death in children aged 1-4. Huffman not only met that goal, he more than doubled it.

During a presentation Wednesday, HAC Executive Director Jack Huisingh shared his gratitude to Huffman for his efforts and shared the news of the fundraising success.

“Our organization is so thankful for what you have supported in doing this,” Huisingh said. “It’s almost unimaginable, but $27,000 has been raised so far and it is still coming in.

“We are just excited to be able to answer the phone and say ‘Yes, we can, based on what Bryan has done.’”

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While acknowledging the magnitude of $27,000, Huffman pointed out that he’s far from done and plans to continue to raise money through his swims in the coming weeks, months and years.

“We learned a lot from this trip,” Huffman said. “I think there is definitely some stuff that we will change on future attempts.”

To donate to Huffman’s mission, visit hollandaquatic.org/big-lake-swim.

— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland man attempts Lake Michigan swim, raises $27K for swim lessons